well our 95 16v 1.6l sidekick is all registered after passing smog with flying colors. but while taking it out the other day me and my friend smelt coolant. i pulled over right away and saw one of the rear hoses (heater hose?) had a bad crack and leaked out a ton of coolant. The temp gauge never hit red.

Well when i got it back home i fixed the hose but when i started it up it was surging. Figured it wait till today to test Idle air control valve. The surging would stop if i would wiggle hoses attached to the idle air control vale so i figured one might be loose or causing vacuum problems.

Well today the car wouldnt start at all, just turn over violently. No sludge on the dipstick but slight sheen in radiator (very slight) fluid. also water keeps shooting out of the radiator why turning over. If i keep cap on it fills up the overflow tank. Any ideas where to start?

filling up any cooling system takes lots of careful steps, burping out all starting car 3 times. burping, then driving around block and cool and burp and fill until it takes not more 50% coolant. (cool, fill, burp, start, let water rise up the fill cap off hole, then kill engine, then cap it and drive around block.
then let it cool, and off the cap and if low add coolant, cap on rad back, drive around block stop , now cool cap off, low? fill again, and repeat,
only this way gets out all the air ,your shop guy knows who to burp out all air, there are even some tricks but varies by car, some cars, my jeep front bumper jacked 4 feet in air, does that(in the jeep manual too)

saying didnt over heat is so wrong. sorry but here is why.
best is a tow home, in all cases, unless found the leak early and filled up fast and ended the leak now, you can bypass the heater hoses to end leak hose there.
did you know the temp gage, sensor is the top part of the coolant loop and when coolant falls, below that sensor (air pocket) the gauge reads low, reads air temp there, now and lies low.
fooling drivers,. that it did not over heat but did, hope im wrong, but below says no.
i bet you warped the head. that is why the overflow tank is blasting, with exhaust pressure landing there.
a Compression test is next, the tool is $20 and done with the throttle blocked open and spark defeated.

how I saved mine, it failed the heater hose crack deal
stopped fast at first wiff of antifreeze , and slight steam on hood seams., open hood sure leaks,
i let it cool. say so hoses are just cool enough, and I bypassed the heater hose, 1 was good other not, so looped the good hose, fitting to fitting
screwed down the clamps, im on the turn pike off on grass area. say 50ft from road.
i walk to the nearest place to find water and a bucket or old milk 1gal jug, ok got some free water
walk back, fill it up
drive 15mile home safe. no damage. (grin)
that is how I fixed mine last time it happened.
today , autoclub card. call. CELL.
a tow is usually 1/10th cost of engine, even, 1/30th.

yeah it was towed after i overheated it. I wasnt messing around. Ok so just do a compression test. i figured i might have warped the head. ill try and see if it will start at all but it doesnt seem like it.

the key is cutting the key at the first sign of steam or the nasty stinch of Antifreeze glycol.
but speed can cause the head to warp real fast, its on the top there, so if air pockets happen there, leaks, it gets super hot super fast for sure on hill flogging it.

a compression test is warranted any time you overheat any engine, or loss of coolant, in fact can save you from second event.
the head can get damaged, but is ok now, but not tomorrow, call this the walking wounded.... can happen.
in your case its now.
that blast to the overfill tank is very serious matter.

ok so i finally got it started. head is most definitely warped as i can smell rich smelling bubbles coming from the overflow tank. a bubble every few seconds. seems to correlate to an exhaust stroke on one of the pistons. o well the car needed a new head anyway as one of the valves were toast. cant seem to find a rebuild kit for the 16v but did find a head

I may check for shits and giggles to see which cylinder it is but i know for sure is warped or cracked. its no worries its an expensive rebuilt but at least it will be a new top end. Im not worried about undertaking the project. Im actually a toyota guy and know the 22r like the back of my hand. Did a head replacement on one of my old trucks. The replacement series is almost at 150,000 views. heres the video if you want to check it out or anything in my series:

Ok kick got a little issue here, its not a BIG issue but my girlfriend is a little annoyed. So as its a 95 California model sidekick i took your advice and bought the G16b cylinder head. we were lucky enough find a BRAND NEW one from Australia. it was a complete head with cam and valves installed WITH permaseal gasket kit. So i am down to the head on the kick and i notice the cam on ours has the gear on the end (obviously) but the brand new cam doesn't have a gear it appears to be 4 teeth all around the end of the cam. Definitely will not mess with the gear on the distributor and i noticed the gear our cam is NON removable. Her old cam is not that worn at all, i see no nicks in the lobes nor any wear so its almost brand new (in my opinion and iv seen a worn cam). So i can, and i say that loosly, put the old camshaft back in but my girlfriend wanted brand new. im curious what this cam with the 4 teeth controls? what type of distributor?

heads from USA are not same in other countries, cam is big time smog regulated part.
a 16v head world wide uses many different cams. and some have distributor gears that remove. there are like 3 or more distributors used too....world wide, on 1 engine.
are you importing head from outside usa or canada?

if the lobes are ok sure, you can use them , (profiles too vary by country)
but the cam bearings must fit. use plastigage, see the clearance there, to spec. the caps are not 100 ft./lbs as silly GM(GE0) book says. it's inch./lbs.
i'd bet that head is china clone?, did you read all codes on the side of the head, suzuki codes? (just a guess, i can see it and inspect it)
the head codes are also suzuki secret. only rumors what they mean..... but are REAL.